Customer Reviews:
 Fuze + Linux - Awesome combination October 28, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm an avid Linux user. I've been searching for a good mp3 player which works with Linux without any additional drivers/libraries for the MTP protocol and which can handle audiobooks as well as music. The Sansa Fuze performs in spades. I love this little player. It connects to the linux box in MSC mode and allows easy file/directory transfer to the device. Audiobooks are handled completely separate from audiobooks. The benefit here is that I can switch between a book and my music without having to change settings for shuffle, EQ, or to remember exactly where I was in the audiobook and as the sansa remembers for me. Pictures (jpgs) are well handled. The unit will scale most jpgs to fit the screen. I've seen that 6MP+ pictures will often not scale dynamically, but why would you want to waste space on an mp3 player with 6MB picture files? Just scale them before propogation. In all, this player has been fantastic for the 2 weeks I've had it. I listen to audio books almost constantly (eleven unabridged books since receipt), and the player has not glitched once. I've thrown everything from 48kbs at 22k samples to 320kbs at 44.1k samples.
Great Product October 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Who needs to overspend on a IPod when you can get this great product from Sandisk. I upgraded from a 260E and I love it. Instructions were not great. It works great but differently from my 260E so took some figuring out. I would reccomend to anybody looking for a quality, less expensive MP3 player.
 Definitely satisfactory October 27, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I did some research before deciding on the 8 GB Fuze, and my overall reaction is that it is completely satisfactory. I have already had 2 ipods die on me (first a mini, then a classic 20GB) so I wasn't about to shell out any more money on apple MP3 players. The things I like most about this product are (1) the size and appearance, (2) the fact that you can add memory to it, and (3) being able to delete a song right off the device, which is something that always drove me crazy about my ipods.
I didn't have any trouble syncing my music from Windows Media Player, but it definitely took a long time the first couple of times that I loaded a lot of music on at once. I actually prefer using Media Player over iTunes - it doesn't take as long to boot up, and isn't perpetually asking me if I'd like to install update 5.0.0.1.5 or some ridiculous version.
The bonus is the FM radio - I installed all my presets with ease, and haven't been using it much, but it's just nice to know that it's there.
My ONLY complaint is that the screen got a nasty scratch on it really quickly. My own fault, obviously, but it's still frustrating that it wasn't a little more durable to hang out in my purse. I will definitely be purchasing a case & screen protector.
Amazing little device October 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I own one of the previous generation mp3 players from SanDisk, the e260, version 1. That was a fine device, with it's quirks but represented a great value. The e200 series are now discontinued as of October 2009.
The Fuze is the next generation with totally new chip and architecture. The user interface is similar but there are improvemements. The scroll-wheel is improved and much more iPod-like. The screen is slightly larger than the e200 at 1.9" (diagonal). The older e200 had user-replacable battery...the Fuze does not. Slight downside there.
Aesthetics are different. Very nice lines, super thin and very light. Sound quality is greatly improved with better bass presence and realism, greater detail and separation...even with the (suprisingly good-sounding) outer-ear earbuds. Video quality is great, very nice LCD display. You still have to use Sansa's separate software, the Sansa Media Converter (included on disk and downloadable for free)to put photos and video on the device. SMC processes various movie formats and converts them to avi format and "pipes" them into the Fuze, while connected to the computer. It takes some time. You won't want to mess around with very large video files. Even if you have existing avi files you cannot drag-and-drop the files onto the device the same way that you can with music files. Photos are converted from jpg to bmp files and "piped" to the Fuze.
The Fuze now supports ogg vorbis and flac files with the most recent firmware update. The stock version of firmware will not. Check the Sansa website for the downloadable firmware update and instructions for how to do this.
You get FM radio and a pretty good quality on-board voice recorder too!
The device supports accessory micro SDHC cards, and the 8 gig cards work, supposedly the new 16 gig will too and THEORETICALLY the 2009 32 gig cards should work. Video plays off the cards just fine.
Amazing device, great looks and sound quality, great capacity with the externals cards...hard to go wrong here. Highly recommended.
Only caveat is LCD screens scratch easily. Research "screen protectors" (Zagg is one good one I am told) and put one on the Fuze right way. You'll regret not doing it when the scratches build up. And they will!
Check the Sansa website FORUM for great user information on Fuze devices.
[...]
Mainly some pretty knowledgable users but Sansa tech help monitors the forum as well. There are all kinds of technical tips to help get you up to speed and troubleshoot. Don't know what I would have done without that site.
 Audiobook challenge October 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this MP3 player to transfer audiobooks from CD to the player. I do a lot walking and carrying a CD player was not for me. It was a complicated experiment. Because audiobooks come in sets of 5 to 7 CD's I first thought that I should be able to transfer them all to my computer then to the Fuze. Audiobooks CD tracks are not like music CD's. Some are in 10 to 15 tracks per CD to 100 tracks per CD. Also audiobooks CD use stupid labels on each CD for the tracks. By doing all at once the computer program, Rhapsody, did not separate the CD's but rather put them all together as tracks from each CD which would not work if transfered to MP3 player. My final solution was to transfer each CD separately as a single playlist, making sure that the lists would stay in order of the book by naming them in a manner to get that done. Then I transfered them to the Fuze. Because of this I cannot bookmark. I need to pause then turn the Fuze off. Fine, unless you decide to listen to some music on another playlist. At that point you have lost your spot in the book and you had better written down the track location.
I like the quality of the sound and the ease of transfer from computer to Fuze and erasing from the Fuze, but I will do a lot more research before I get my next MP3 player. Maybe using Rhapsody is my problem. I really liked Yahoo music because I could printout my playlist information but not with Rhaposody. Has someone got a better idea of software product to use?
Finally, I found out that 8GB is far to much for anyones needs. Right now I have 4 books and about 400 songs loaded and I have not used 2 GB yet. A better player will come up before I will ever fill this one.
|
